Poem - I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go. Click on this part to go to voice thread and analysis of poem: voice thread TPCASTT Analysis of poem Title:The title reveals the subject of the poem. The reader knows that the poet will be recalling an incident that she had when going fishing. Paraphrase:In this poem, the speaker can be assumed to be the author –an amateur fisher who happens to catch a peculiar fish. She then looks at the fish carefully; admiring and noting every detail from the jaw line to the shape of the scales. The rest of the poem is her thoughts on whether or not to keep the fish or set it free. She begins to see the fish as a survivor and even compares it to a war veteran. “Like medals with ribbons…a five haired beard of wisdom” Eventually, she decides to let the fish go since, like her, it has been through many obstacles in life. Connotation: In the first four lines, the words “battered”, “venerable”, and “homely” describe the condition of the fish and how the speaker feels toward it. “Battered” shows that the fish is in a bad physical condition, containing hooks and injuries from previous captures where it has managed to get away. “Venerable” enables the reader to understand the fish was very old and in the speaker’s eyes, even holy. Although the fish is unattractive [homely], the narrator is still intrigued by it and the fish becomes an object of her amazement.
Bishop also uses extravagant detail to describe her encounter with the fish. “[The fish] was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age”. Bishop’s crisp and clear use of diction enables her poem to carry on the theme and tone in proper ways. She also utilizes visual imagery and metaphors which dramatize the incident and can clearly portray the speaker’s feeling towards the fish. Attitude:The narrator’s attitude in the beginning is unconcerned and focused on her own victory as the unique qualities of this fish have not been discovered yet. After studying the fish, the speaker’s awe and admiration lengthens leading to her release of the fish back in the water. So the attitude shifts from begin somewhat negative to positive. Shift: There are three main shifts in this poem. First, Bishop goes from describing the physical appearance of the fish to elaborating how the inside of the fish would look. The speaker only lets the fish go after finding the fish hooks in it; this is where the third shift occurs. (1) The first part from lines 1 to 21 describe the fish’s physical appearance – how it looks, what the scales look like and what else is different about it (2) The internal structure of the fish is described from lines 27 to 33 as if the speaker was dissecting it; finding bones and different colors of red and black in the flesh. (3) Finally, the last part from lines 34 to the end describe how the fish is unique and has already been captured before. This is the part where she lets the fish go and realizes that it is a “survivor”. Theme/tone:At first, the poet’s tone is proud and admiring since she is filled with triumph by catching a “tremendous fish”. As the shifts take place, the tone becomes more reflective and sympathetic. The speaker realizes here that the fish is not so much different than her. This comparison is drawn when she elaborates on the difference and similarities – personifying the fish. The theme: A person is honored not for physical attributes, but for rather experiences witnessed and hardships faced. Title:When analyzing the title, the fish represents freedom and liberty since it is free in the open sea. When the narrator captured the fish, its questioned survival symbolized restriction and constraint. This is a paradoxical.
Ciations:
image : http://amyking.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/elizabeth-bishop.jpg
By: Elizabeth Bishop
Poem -
I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.
Click on this part to go to voice thread and analysis of poem: voice thread
TPCASTT Analysis of poem
Title: The title reveals the subject of the poem. The reader knows that the poet will be recalling an incident that she had when going fishing.
Paraphrase: In this poem, the speaker can be assumed to be the author –an amateur fisher who happens to catch a peculiar fish. She then looks at the fish carefully; admiring and noting every detail from the jaw line to the shape of the scales. The rest of the poem is her thoughts on whether or not to keep the fish or set it free. She begins to see the fish as a survivor and even compares it to a war veteran. “Like medals with ribbons…a five haired beard of wisdom” Eventually, she decides to let the fish go since, like her, it has been through many obstacles in life.
Connotation: In the first four lines, the words “battered”, “venerable”, and “homely” describe the condition of the fish and how the speaker feels toward it. “Battered” shows that the fish is in a bad physical condition, containing hooks and injuries from previous captures where it has managed to get away. “Venerable” enables the reader to understand the fish was very old and in the speaker’s eyes, even holy. Although the fish is unattractive [homely], the narrator is still intrigued by it and the fish becomes an object of her amazement.
Bishop also uses extravagant detail to describe her encounter with the fish. “[The fish] was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age”. Bishop’s crisp and clear use of diction enables her poem to carry on the theme and tone in proper ways. She also utilizes visual imagery and metaphors which dramatize the incident and can clearly portray the speaker’s feeling towards the fish.
Attitude: The narrator’s attitude in the beginning is unconcerned and focused on her own victory as the unique qualities of this fish have not been discovered yet. After studying the fish, the speaker’s awe and admiration lengthens leading to her release of the fish back in the water. So the attitude shifts from begin somewhat negative to positive.
Shift: There are three main shifts in this poem. First, Bishop goes from describing the physical appearance of the fish to elaborating how the inside of the fish would look. The speaker only lets the fish go after finding the fish hooks in it; this is where the third shift occurs.
(1) The first part from lines 1 to 21 describe the fish’s physical appearance – how it looks, what the scales look like and what else is different about it
(2) The internal structure of the fish is described from lines 27 to 33 as if the speaker was dissecting it; finding bones and different colors of red and black in the flesh.
(3) Finally, the last part from lines 34 to the end describe how the fish is unique and has already been captured before. This is the part where she lets the fish go and realizes that it is a “survivor”.
Theme/tone: At first, the poet’s tone is proud and admiring since she is filled with triumph by catching a “tremendous fish”. As the shifts take place, the tone becomes more reflective and sympathetic. The speaker realizes here that the fish is not so much different than her. This comparison is drawn when she elaborates on the difference and similarities – personifying the fish.
The theme: A person is honored not for physical attributes, but for rather experiences witnessed and hardships faced.
Title: When analyzing the title, the fish represents freedom and liberty since it is free in the open sea. When the narrator captured the fish, its questioned survival symbolized restriction and constraint. This is a paradoxical.
Ciations:
image : http://amyking.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/elizabeth-bishop.jpg